Welcome and Thanks for visiting this blog. I feel motivated to welcome and record constructive events/actions that are occurring in the world with a primary emphasis on the United States.
We are bombarded with so much negative information that a place to focus on what is positive is like a breath of fresh air.
Welcome to A Better World In Action!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

You feel homeless and want to find a place to live. You decide to live on the land that your people wrote about in a book and claim still belongs to them. You get support from some powerful groups, who do not themselves live on the land, to help you take the land. There is only one problem. There are people already living on the land and you are going to take some of their land from them instead of asking them for it. With the backing of powerful groups, you will fight them for it because you have decided you will take it. Hmmm, are we talking about the native Americans? No, not this time. We are talking about the Israelis.

If you come into my backyard intending to build a house which will require me to move, then we have a problem! Not only have you trespassed by coming uninvited onto my property but you also intend to squat their and claim it is your property. I will not stand by and let you treat me this way or do this to me. I will fight for what is mine and not allow you to intimidate me or make claims that the land was always yours. No, I will not. I may even go to my grave fighting for what is mine. Even those powerful groups that enabled you to move in on my property are at fault as well. I understand why the Palestinians feel the way they do and why they are fighting for what is theirs. Put yourself in their shoes as if the same thing was happening in your backyard. The Israelis want peace, true, but at the expense of the Palestinians. There can be no peace where one side has been forced into a position that they did not agree with in the first place. There can only be forced submission. The Palestinians are proud people just as the Israelis. I disagree with the killing from both sides; but, I understand why the Palestinians have a problem with the Israelis. The Palestinians did not create this problem. It was forced upon them.

Friday, July 9, 2010

I saw a group of Black teenage boys with their pants hanging off their behinds standing around talking to each other on a corner where my apartment complex was up the street. The neighborhood itself was a mix of homeowners and well maintained apartment complexes. Upon seeing these boys, I immediately started to worry. I wondered what they were doing here. Do I need to be alarmed? Why do they have to wear their pants below their butts? White people already fear seeing a group of Black men together anywhere let alone with pants hanging past their behinds. Then I wondered if I would feel the same way on seeing a group of white teenagers standing around talking to each other on a corner with pants below their butts. I have to admit that I would feel less alarmed and I wondered why. I figured that it may be because of the negative rap songs I have heard, memories of seeing boys standing on corners selling drugs, or an inundation of negative portrayals of black men in general. How do you feel?

Sunday, July 4, 2010

I happened upon a park and decided to have a closer look. There was a long winding walkway in order to get to the main part of the park - the baseball field and restrooms.

As I strolled along the walkway a man who was leaving the park passed by me. He did not look at me and I felt a little discomfort. You see the walkway was very small- allowing for two people. I continued on and another man passed by. He looked at me briefly but did not smile. I continued on and another man passed by me. Now I was wondering why I was only seeing men and no women and children. I felt something was very wrong and was reluctant to go further along the walk way. Then it came to me that men were having sex in that park. It was a place where they met for encounters.

I did not want to take another step further. The thought of what they were doing repulsed me and the fact that they were doing this in a public park was appalling.

I wonder what percentage of the male gay population participates in such vile behavior. Are they the 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 percent or more of gaydom? It is behavior like this that puts a dark light on homosexuality. This colors homosexuality as deviant and aberrant behavior.

Many Republicans say that they are against additional unemployment compensation payments because they do not want future generations to have to pay for it. An analyst appearing on Fox news believes that providing these benefits to people gives them the incentive to delay seeking employment. They also argued that the money was not being saved in anyway but spent immediately.

The unspoken belief is that the unemployed are really lazy, prefer not to work, and want to delay returning to work for as long as possible thus we do not want to give them any money.

The reality is that all of those receiving benefits were terminated from their job. They did not quit. Also, the $250 a week that is provided barely covers apartment rent or mortgage let alone other living expenses like food, insurance, and utilities. Furthermore, these people could not save this money even if they wanted to because it already does not cover most of their living expenses. They need the money for current monthly expenses. Finally, the argument that future generations will have to pay for these benefits ignores the fact that people are suffering today, not in the future, and need this money to help provide for their children who will make the future generation.

Friday, July 2, 2010

This probably won't happen but the government needs to create a law that prevents special interests from contributing to campaign funds. In fact, the need to have money just to run for office should be eliminated. In this day and age of the internet, candidates can be podcasts concerning there issues and stance on issues. With the current way things are you practically have to be rich to run for an important important.

Legislators should first look to the sciences to help them make decisions on the issues and then have the lobbyists comment on the outcomes of those discussions. We already know that drug companies want don't want the importation of drugs but is this best for the citizens of our country? With the rising costs of medicines today and the inability of many to afford them, preventing prescription drug importation to provide affordable drugs and more choice is the ideal solution for the citizenry. Some legislators claim this needs to be prevented for safety reasons. Take Canada for example, our government could choose to only import drugs from highly reputable and regulated drug companies there. Further, the Canadian drugmakers would be aware that the US market would be eliminated if poor quality drugs were manufactured for American citizenry. Basically, there are solutions to the perceived downfalls.

Government needs to make decisions that are in the best interests of John Doe instead of corporations and those in power whose interests may not be best for the citizenry. I believe legislators are being held more accountable today but the lobbyists and campaign donations need to be curtailed to avoid influencing legislative voting.